As we observe the traditional date of Christ’s birth, spare a thought for the five men and one woman from a trio of sovereign nations, who are presently in orbit, 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough is presently joined by Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko, and Oleg Novitsky, together with Frenchman Thomas Pesquet and the first woman to record as many as two Christmases away from the Home Planet, former NASA Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson. As outlined in yesterday’s AmericaSpace history article, numerous Americans, Russians, Germans, Swiss, French, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Canadian, and British spacefarers have celebrated the holidays further from their loved ones than any other human beings. In fact, Christmas has been welcomed both from low-Earth orbit and from the vicinity of the Moon, first observed by the crew of Apollo 8 in December 1968.

Celebrating Christmas in orbit has become commonplace since the arrival of the first permanent ISS crew in the fall of 2000. For the last 17 consecutive Christmases, 29 Americans, and 32 Russians have spent the holidays aboard the space station—several of them on more than one occasion—as well as two Japanese, two Italians, a Dutchman, a Canadian, and a Briton. For all of them, the sense of separation from family and loved ones is particularly strong.

The first crew to put up decorations aboard the ISS were the Expedition 1 crew—Commander Bill Shepherd of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev—who were about eight weeks into their five-month increment on the big day. For them, Christmas was a busy time, since an unpiloted Progress cargo craft had been undocked a few weeks earlier and inserted into a close “parking orbit” to allow Russian flight controllers to correct a software glitch with its automatic rendezvous system. On 26 December 2000, Gidzenko guided the Progress to a smooth docking at the rear port of the station’s Zvezda service module. Despite the work, the three men managed to enjoy a quiet Christmas, opening presents, talking to their families, eating rehydrated turkey, and receiving Christmas greetings from NASA Administrator Dan Goldin.

Bill Shepherd (center) and his Expedition 1 crewmates Yuri Gidzenko (left) and Sergei Krikalev juggle oranges during their time aboard the International Space Station. They celebrated both Christmas and the dawn of 2001 in orbit. Photo Credit: NASA

A year later, the station had grown significantly, with the addition of the United States’ Destiny lab, the Quest airlock, and the Canadarm2 robotic manipulator arm. Christmas 2001 was observed by newly-arrived Expedition 4 Commander Yuri Onufrienko and his NASA crewmates Carl Walz and Dan Bursch with a day off and an opportunity to break into the pantry to sample turkey and other traditional foods. The following Christmas came just five weeks before the Columbia tragedy and the Expedition 6 crew of Ken Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin, and Don Pettit also enjoyed a day with only minor duties. Whilst they were required to check the station’s environmental control system and the status of several Destiny payloads, each crewman opened presents, “selected favorite dishes for their holiday dinner” and spent 15 minutes privately talking with family members. They also spoke to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

By the time the festive season rolled around in 2006, construction of the station had been driven back into high gear and long-duration crews had returned to their original three-strong capacity. Aboard the ISS were Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, his Russian crewmate Mikhail Tyurin, and the first U.S. woman to celebrate Christmas in orbit, Suni Williams. For them, the big day fitted in the middle of a busy week unpacking, recording, and stowing supplies brought by the recent STS-116 shuttle visitors. In one of her Mission Logs, Williams noted that crew members were allocated a handful of off-days throughout the year and these were picked on the basis of operational constraints. “Remember we have our international partners here as well,” she wrote, “so not all holidays are ones that are observed in the U.S. I voted for taking all the holidays off, but that didn’t go over too well … ”

A year later, in 2007, the 20th continuous Christmas celebrated by humans saw the station’s first female skipper, Peggy Whitson, aboard the outpost, alongside Russia’s Yuri Malenchenko and NASA astronaut Dan Tani. The season was tinged with some sadness, for Tani’s mother, Rose, had been killed on 19 December when her car was struck by a freight train in Chicago, Ill. By Christmas 2008, the station had received its European Columbus and Japanese Kibo labs and Expedition 18 crew members Mike Fincke, Yuri Lonchakov, and Sandy Magnus were aboard.

Only two days before Santa’s arrival, Fincke and Lonchakov completed an EVA outside the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), but their efforts were amply rewarded by Magnus, who prepared mesquite grilled albacore steaks, with a lemon and garlic paste sauce, together with Russian crab salad from the contents of her bonus food containers. She also made a point to request red, green, yellow, blue, and white icing among her foods to decorate some cinnamon, shortbread, and butter cookies, which she distributed to her crewmates over the festive period. According to NASA, Magnus’ efforts contributed to “the high-calorie traditions so common on Earth this time of year.” A quick glance at the crew’s Christmas dinner was more than adequate to whet the appetite: smoked turkey, cornbread dressing, and mashed potatoes, together with asparagus, shrimp cocktail, dried blueberries, various tropical fruits, wheat flatbreads, and brown rice.

Expedition 22 crewmen, including the first Japanese astronaut to spend Christmas in orbit, Soichi Noguchi, pose with costumes and decorations, three days ahead of the big day in 2009. Note Timothy “T.J.” Creamer’s elven ears. Photo Credit: NASA

Twelve months later, the mid-winter festivities appeared to have died down and until the final few days before Christmas 2009 only two men—NASA’s Jeff Williams and Russia’s Max Surayev—occupied the outpost. All that changed on 22 December, when Soyuz TMA-17 docked and brought the final three members of the Expedition 22 increment: Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, U.S. astronaut Timothy “T.J.” Creamer, and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi. And they arrived in style. Floating from their craft into the station, the three men were attired in the costumes of Santa’s helpers and elves and bore a Christmas tree, topped by a dangling decoration of Mr. Claus himself, on their shoulders and a large white sack full of presents. Kotov manhandled the tree, whilst Noguchi carried the sack and Creamer, sporting genuine pointed ears and elven shoes, brought up the rear.

By this time, Christmases were turning into busy affairs at the orbital outpost, which had reached the capability to house a full crew of up to six long-duration occupants. Noguchi’s arrival made him the first Japanese to spend Christmas in space and Italy also added its name to the tally in December 2010, when Paolo Nespoli launched aboard Soyuz TMA-20, alongside Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratiev and NASA astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman. Upon docking, they joined incumbent Expedition 26 crew members Scott Kelly, Aleksandr Kaleri—spending his third Christmas in orbit, following previous holiday stints aboard Mir and the ISS—and Oleg Skripochka.

“The holidays are a time where we treasure being with our family and our friends,” said Coleman, in a pre-recorded Christmas message in the station’s Kibo module, as she floated alongside Kelly and Nespoli, “and we think about what we have and how much more we have than others do.” Nespoli added that from his vantage point, he saw just one planet and one world, with no borders, and his awareness of the enormity of humanity’s responsibility was clear. On Christmas morning, their crewmates from the ROS photographed them bailing out of their sleep stations to eagerly access their gifts.

A year later, in 2011, NASA astronauts Dan Burbank and Don Pettit, Russian cosmonauts Anon Shkaplerov, Anatoli Ivanishin, and Oleg Kononenko and Dutchman Andre Kuipers were aboard the ISS, as the crew of Expedition 30. “My collateral damage toll,” wrote Pettit in a NASA blog, “includes being on-orbit for two Thanksgivings, Christmas, New Year, birthdays, anniversaries, a science fair, school plays, recitals and Valentine’s Day.” With Expedition 30, he added, his damage toll was steadily rising, although he acquiesced that “with our new internet capability on space station, I can at least send flowers!” Humanity had come a long way from the tiny gifts of cufflinks and man-in-the-Moon and figure-8 tie pins from the Apollo 8 wives to their menfolk, and Pettit offered the tongue-in-cheek remark in his blog that the real essentials for surviving in the new “wilderness” of space “are not flint, steel and powder … but your credit card number and network login.”

Since the dawn of the Space Age, and including last year’s Expedition 46 team and this year’s Expedition 50 crew, some 96 discrete astronauts and cosmonauts from almost a dozen sovereign nations have spent Christmas away from their loved ones, high above Earth. In December 2015, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly became the first American to chalk up as many as three Christmases in space, joining Russian cosmonauts Sergei Avdeyev, Sergei Krikalev, and Aleksandr Kaleri as the fourth member of this exclusive “club.” And counting Expedition 50, 20 humans have spent two festive seasons in orbit.

This is part of a series of history articles, which will appear each weekend, barring any major news stories. Next week’s article will focus on celebrations of the New Year in space.